The Thanksgiving Holiday is quickly approaching and so is the horrible Seattle area weather that normally has me putting my clubs away for the season – or at least the season of hoping to score well. Sure, the occasional nice weekend will pop up here and there, but the courses are usually so drenched at this point that you will lose balls in the fairways and maybe a shoe to go with them. Even so, last weekend, I ventured out to The Golf Club at Echo Falls for a quick nine holes after a day of running errands. All I can say is that I didn’t get nine holes in, I managed to truck through all 18 and finish as it was just getting to be too dark to see. The end result of the round, at least in my head was nothing short of amazing. I’ll let you judge for yourself though as you read through my round recap below.
The round started off with the short par 4, first hole. The 330 yard par 4 plays very straight from the tee with a hill sliding from right to left. If you are center of the fairway, you will be good to go, but anything right will find the rough on the hill and anything left will find itself wanting to run left to the trees opposite the cart path. On this day, I was lucky enough to pull out my new 2 hybrid (first swing ever) and hit a nice 212 yard poke up the middle with a little draw. I hadn’t realized the hole was actually uphill, but it played out well to the middle of the fairway for me. I followed that up with a nice 133 yard gap wedge (51 degrees for those following along at home) and a 2 putt for par. So far so good, and as a bonus the hybrid felt surprisingly good off the tee. The 298 yard, par 4, second hole plays uphill both ways, probably in the snow. This short little hole has absolutely no challenging elements to it, except for the incline. I should have read the elevation a bit better and taken the 3, but I opted to hit the 2 hybrid again off the tee just to see what it would do. Again, it was a decent enough strike that carried 202 up the hill to the center of the short grass. A solid, 103 yard sand wedge (56 degree) found the back edge of the green and another two putts landed my second par of the round. The third hole is where it got really interesting. The 258 yard, par 4, used to have the tee box pulled to the far left side of the hole, making it a simple play to stay left, away from the pond that lines the right hand side of the hole. Unfortunately, some crazy idea to move the tee boxes to the right, and I mean way right. The tee boxes were now far enough right that the tee shot played directly over the water for almost the length of the hole. Still, with only 180 to carry the water, the 2 hybrid seemed like an easy choice. A surprisingly perfect 228 yard shot followed that decision, rolling up about 30 yards short of the green. I fully expected my short game to be terrible, but somehow I got lucky and my 33 yard lob wedge (60 degree) found the right place to land about 3 feet from the hole – and yes, for those reading along, it was luck. A quick tap in for birdie and I found myself one under par after three holes.
Moving on to the 429 yard, par 5, fourth hole, I opted to take out the driver for this long downhill hole. I rocketed a drive down the left side of hole, just as planned, but the ball didn’t drift back to the right quite enough, finding the left rough. I had a very simple 105 yard sand wedge into the green, but I had to clear the rather large gap that I had between two trees to make the shot. I hit the exact shot I wanted to, but it clipped the tree on the right, kicking the shot short and left of the green. I followed that up with a rather anemic lob wedge that fell far short of the pin, but made the green. A lucky (or unlucky if you count the fact it didn’t fall in the hole) lag putt left me sitting inches from another par. The 171 yard, par 3, fifth was up next. This is the same hole that I hit to the wrong green the first time I played at Echo… Fortunately, that didn’t happen again, but I did manage to make a pretty big mistake hitting to the back of the green on this hole. The hole was playing a touch shorter than normal, so my 163 yard 8 iron found the back tier of the green leaving me a nasty downhill putt that broke to the right. I had a decent read on it, but I wasn’t close on the speed and left it about 20 feet short. The second putt ended up at tap in length, but the damage was done. A bogey 4 had me back at even par. The par 5 sixth hole was up next, playing at just over 500 yards. My drive was wide left, again not coming around with the little fade that I was trying to play. In fact, it was actually a bit more of a 292 yard draw than anything else, which left me sitting in the left rough with about 190 yards, downhill, to the green. I pulled an 8 iron hoping that it would be just enough to find the green at the bottom of the hill, but knowing I would be in good shape lying two in front of the green. Fortunately, my 8 iron found the front of the green and left me an easy look at eagle. The putt didn’t find the hole but the 3 footer back did, netting me my second birdie of the round.
Coming around to the final 3 holes of the front side, I was feeling solid about the round and my tee shot on the 171 yard, par 3, 7th hole was just another confidence booster. It was playing shorter than the posted distance, so I hit a gorgeous 8 iron draw headed right for the flag. Unfortunately, I could have used one more club to get all the way back to the flag. It left me a 35 foot putt, which I honestly had no dream of making, but as it rolled close, I had given myself a chance. It found the bottom of the cup for a birdie two and I was now two under par on the day. The 333 yard, par 4, eighth was up next. This is another of the Echo holes that plays very straight forward, but somehow good scores elude me here. I decided to play back to the hybrid again since I had missed both fairways with my driver. I didn’t catch it clean, but it was a nice 192 yard draw to the center of the fairway. A nicely struck 139 yard pitching wedge found the back left corner of the green for a nice 2 putt par. It would have been nice to get the second shot a bit closer, but with the mis-hit drive, I was happy to land safely on the green and not lose a stroke. The final hole on the front side is the dog-leg left, 361 yard, raised green, par 4 that only requires a decent tee shot to have a great shot at playing well. I knew that the hole doesn’t play 361 if you cut the corner a bit, and my 2 hybrid had been very accurate up to that point, so I took it out one more time to try and “cut the corner” a bit. I ended up taking off a bit more than I wanted and landed left of the fairway, but had a solid 240 yard carry on it. A soft, 75 yard sand wedge found the front of the green and left me about 50 feet for birdie. I rand the first putt about 15 feet by the hole and left the next one about a foot short. It was a bogey 5 to close out the front, but I was still one under par for the outward nine.
As I putted out on the ninth hole, I realized the insane pace that I had played on the front side may have just enough light left to speed my way through the back side. I mean I was one under, how can you not keep this round going as long as possible, right? So off I went to the 10th tee, a short par 3, playing about 105 yards. I hit a solid sand wedge to the back of the green and had a nice short, and I mean short, putt for birdie. I managed to drain the foot long putt for my fourth birdie, and move myself to 2 under par. The weird part about the round was that there I was posting my 4th birdie and honestly, I wasn’t striking the ball that well, the results were just ending up better than usual. It was strange, but my putting wasn’t that fantastic, but I was getting most of my first putts within that ‘easy’ range on the front side, and my first putt on the back was so short it was almost impossible to miss. The 11th hole played out rather nicely as well. I hit a nice 233 yard 2 hybrid that found the left center of the fairway. A solid 121 yard gap wedge flew the green by about 10 yards and landed just to the left of it. I putted through the tiny bit of rough and through the fringe to about 4 feet of the hole. My putt found the right edge of the hole and fell in for an even par. It was my first real chance for a blow up hole, but it also got me through the group that was holding me up for much of my round, so it was clear sailing from there. For the record, the 11th was also the first green I had missed all day – though I didn’t know that at the time. The par 5, 12th hole was up next. At 489 yards, the challenge for the 12th is keeping the ball in a logical spot to make your approach to the green. I thought for a moment about hitting my driver off the tee as it has a huge hill with plenty of room, but I decided to work the 2 again for all it was worth. I planted a beautiful tee shot in the right center of the fairway. This left me a strange approach angle, and a pretty long shot at making the green. Since all I saw was bunkers on the card, I pulled the 4 hybrid and hit a gorgeous 222 yard fade to the upper tier of the green, about 110 feet away from the pin. It was the worst possible result for an amazing shot. To attempt the first putt, I actually had to put through the fringe to have a line to get near the hole, but my first effort came out pretty poor. I blasted the putt about 10 feet by and through the break which left about 25 feet for my second putt. There was no birdie magic left on the 12th green for me as my second putt came up about 3 feet short of the hole. My third effort found the cup, though barely, and I managed to save par in a three putt fashion.
The dueling par 3’s were up next with 13 playing 177 and 14 playing just about 140. I chose a 6 iron for the 177 yard hole, but tried to lay off it just a touch as I was worried that I would go long with the 185 yard club. Laying off of it never really works out well for me, unless it happens to be a wedge, and the results of this one were no different. The anemic 150 yard shot found the front of the green, but left me a 30 foot putt for birdie. A bit more solid stroke would have put me center of the green with 15 feet left in, but it’s another green, so let’s count that as an ok thing. The first putt was on track and solid, heading straight on path to the hole. As it rolled to about a foot, it stopped breaking and rolled just past the high side of the hole and stopped at about the 2 foot mark. A straight tap in left me with another par. The 14th hole still makes me cringe, even a day later. I hit an absolutely perfect 115 yard gap wedge straight at the flag stick. It was dead set on hitting the ridge at the front of the green, then slowly rolling down the hill to the flag position. Like I said, it was perfect. It hit dead on the center of the hill, then spun – wait, back up the hill? Yes, the ball hit about a foot into the downslope, then came back up the hill leaving me with a completely awful 2 putt opportunity instead of an almost sure 5th birdie. I left the first putt short by a good 4 feet, but managed so snake the second one in on the low side of the hole for yet another par. I was actually frustrated with the fact that the ball held up on the downslope so much that it almost cost me that last putt. This lead me to a new subject mental notes. My note for this is let the last shot go as soon as it’s gone. Thinking about it will just make you not concentrate on the next one. Fortunately, the next hole is one of those “have to think it through” holes, so my thoughts of the ball rolling uphill were quickly pushed aside by the left turn, par 5, 15th hole. Playing a beastly 465, this par 5 seems like an easy birdie, but it is anything but. I played a punch 2 off the tee that found the right side of the fairway at the corner. I managed to chew 200 yards off the hole with that shot, but still had a solid 275 yards downhill to the green. Not knowing exactly what distances that the new hybrids go, I went with a 3 to see if it could get there, though with 260+ yards to the flag, I didn’t think it would get there. I hit a bit of a toe-y mess with it but it landed 212 yards later down the hill in the fairway, so no harm done. I can imagine if I had hit a 3 iron in a similar way, the results would have been catastrophic. Instead, a poorly hit lob wedge from 50 yards out left me a 30 foot putt for birdie. I didn’t snag that one, nor did I make the 15 foot putt coming back. I did tap in the third effort for my third bogey of the round though and that brought me back to one under par for the round.
Moving on to the closing holes, the 16th was a surprisingly open, dog leg right, par 4 that was playing about 350 yards. I managed to add some serious length to it by hitting a 252 yard draw with my 2 hybrid all the way to the left edge of the rough. A somewhat sloppy, 123 yard, 8 iron came up short and left the green but a stellar lob wedge pitch landed 2 feet from the hole. A single putt for par moved me on from that mess in a hurry. As I made it to the 17th tee, I caught the group that was in front of me and had a few minutes to wait on the tee. The only issue there was that darkness was beginning to fall on the course and seeing the ball was getting much more difficult. After they cleared, I hit my tee shot, again with the 2 hybrid, about 225 yards to the left edge of the fairway. All I can say about this 2 hybrid is that it loves to draw the ball. A flush 7 iron approach from 170 found the back edge of the green where a simple two putt par awaited my card. It was now almost dark and I was one under with one to play. I waited for the group in front of me to finish putting out before I hit simple 9 iron over the water on the 142 yard, par 3, 18th hole. I listened for a splash, and not hearing one, I drove up to the green with my putter in hand. As I exited the cart, I found the ball about 35 feet from the flag and knew I had 2 putts to break par. I was beginning to psych myself out a bit. I took a few extra minutes on that putt as I knew I needed to get it close, and I found my thoughts going to the side of, “Don’t miss it by too much,” instead of, “Make this putt…” I stepped away, gave it one more quick read and hit the putt. It never had a chance of finding the hole, but I knew that the speed was dead on. The putt finished about 12” offline, but it was dead even with the hole. As darkness descended, I tapped in that 1 foot beast for a one under 69. It was a great round, both ball striking and scoring and the course played far better than I could have dreamed for a November afternoon. Hopefully this streak continues and the weather cooperates for a few more rounds at Echo this winter. I sure had a blast playing this one and I’d like to have a few more like it soon!
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